NAME:  Riley Benjamin Leboe
D.O.B:  January 18, 1988
SUMMER HOME:  Squamish, BC
WINTER HOME:  Squamish, BC
SPONSORS:  Armada Skis & Outerwear, Rockstar Enegery, Adidas Eyewar, Tyrolia Bindings, Backcountry Access, Toyo Tires, and Whistler Blackcomb.

WHAT DID YOU DO TODAY?
Today I drove to Quail, BC to visit my cousins. Right now we’re digging up his hard and switching over his out from 120m’s to 220m’s so we can run welders and everything.

WHAT DOES THAT INVOLVE?
He needs higher amperage to run the welders and build sweet stuff like dirt bike jumps and sled decks. It involves tearing up his front yard and working with BC Hydro to put different wires in here. While I’m on the phone right now he’s on a bachoe tearing up the front yard. I’ll have to send a few photos of this.

WHAT’S THE LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?
Just watched American Reunion. It was okay…it had funny parts, it had some really lame parts…its kind of what you would expect from the whole “American Pie” series. It definitely wasn’t the best one though.

WHAT’S THE MOST PLAYED SONG ON YOUR ITUNES LIST?
Right now, is Atlantic City by “The Band” great song. Bruce Springsteen remake. Kind of a southern rock version of his Atlantic City.

IF YOU HAD TO CHOOSE BETWEEN WATCHING THE MOVIE “GOON” OR LISTENING TO BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN’S “BORN IN THE USA” EVERYDAY FOR THE NEXT TWO YEARS, WHICH WOULD YOU PICK?
I would choose to watch the movie Goon. It’s so good.

HOW MANY CELL PHONES HAVE YOU BROKEN OR LOST IN YOUR LIFETIME?
I’ve actually never lost or broken a cell phone, I’ve only retired them. I don’t even have a case on my phone either, that’s how crazy I am. I live life on the edge ahah.

MOST EPIC DAY ALL SEASON?
That’s a tough one, I would say it would have to be a day in late January at Monashee Powder Snow cats with Poor Boyz, Joe Schuster, and Charlie Ager. We came into a great storm, had awesome snow, and I know the terrain really well there and had an awesome day skiing some cool features with good friends. It was such an awesome day.

HOW DID YOU MAKE THE TRANSITION FROM PARK SHREDDER TO FULL THROTTLE BACKCOUNTRY GUY?
It was kind of when I started filming with Theory 3. A lot of the boys that filmed with them had sleds and would always do backcountry trips. I always skied big mountain stuff, or tried to at least, but I had the money to buy a sled so I started going out with Jeff Thomas at Theory 3 and started shredding with Sherpa, Charlie Ager, and Josh Stack. I just loved it. Everything about going out, finding new zones, being with friends out there – I just rolled with it. I kept competing for a few years, but I think I enjoyed it more in the mountains and felt like I was a little better at that side of skiing, stuck with it, and haven’t looked back.

WHAT WAS THE ABSOLUTE BEST TRIP YOU’VE BEEN ON IN YOUR CAREER?
Best trip…That’s a tough one. I don’t think I can actually answer that with one trip. Every year you have a lot of good trips. This year, the Monashees trip was really good, I got to travel to Japan for two weeks straight and skied the deepest snow I’ve ever skied. Every trip is a different experience with different people and different places, so it’s really difficult picking just one.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE EDIT OF SKI SEGMENT OF ALL TIME?
Maybe just talking about this year and the footage I’ve seen, I’m really looking forward to Pep’s segment with Poor Boyz. It’s some of the best footage I’ve seen him produce in a long time and I’m excited to see it come out in the fall.

HAS ANYTHING GONE SERIOUSLY WRONG WHILE TRAVELING?
Not really. We were driving down to the Poor Boyz premiere in Seattle last year and it didn’t really go terribly wrong for me, but it more went terribly wrong for Jeff Schmuck who was in my backseat. We decided to play desert and it was 35 degrees Celsius out, so we locked all the windows and turned the heat on to see who can sweat it out. I’ve never seen someone get so uncomfortable. We were all pretty hot, but Jeff was really stressed. It didn’t go horrible wrong for me, but seeing Jeff get that uncomfortable was definitely a funny travel story. I’m sure he wished he wasn’t in the truck with us….

DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE ARTIST?
Might be a lame answer but I listen to the Rolling Stones a lot

WHAT IS THE MOST ICONIC PLACE IN SKIING?
Probably Alaska. It’s on top of everyone’s bucket list where you go prove yourself and push it. Everyone wants to travel to Alaska.

IS THERE ANYTHING IN SKIING THAT YOU DISLIKE?
I’ve got some different outlooks on clothing styles for sure. I probably wouldn’t wear rasta colored tall tees like some people would, but that’s about it.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE BOOK OF ALL TIME?
I’m not much of a reader, but one book that I read recently was “Into Thin Air” by Jon Krakauer. That was quite riveting. They climbed Mt. Everest, one guy lost a leg and a nose. It was quite the adventure story.

YOU’VE BEEN ON THE ARMADA TEAM SINCE 2008. HOW HAS THE PRODUCT CHANGED BETWEEN THEN AND NOW?
It seems like every year Armada goes above and beyond what’s expected and tries to exceed itself. The designers are never content with what they have and they’re always pushing themselves to make better skis and make better outerwear. It’s kind of crazy. When I first started skiing for Armada, we had the JJ or the ARG for pow, and I had my 3L backcountry outerwear all season. Now, the options for skis change as often as the conditions – I can be on a JJ for any type of skiing, If I’m charging lines, I’m on the AK JJ or maybe the Norwalk, or if I’m just out skiing some all mountain days on hill I use the TST, or when it’s bottomless pow in Japan, blasting through pillows, maybe I’ll take out the Bubba. There’s just so many different tools to use that all excel in their own way. The outerwear is crazy too. We have Goretex now, we have 20k/20k puffy jackets, it doesn’t matter what the conditions – Armada is stepping their game up in everyway and it makes working in these harsh conditions really easy.

WHAT’S THE BEST PLACE TO GO AND GET AWAY FROM IT ALL?
I would probably say if you want to disconnect and still go skiing you should go to Revelstoke, BC. If you hit it on a big day, they’re going to close both passes so you can ski freshies all day. That’s where I like to get away while skiing.

IF YOU HAD TO CHANGE ONE THING ABOUT YOUR APPROACH TO SKIING, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
I would have skied the park a few more days during the winter. I want to learn all these new tricks in the backcountry, but would like to keep up in the park a little more. But it’s all starting to change, I”ve been skiing park this spring and summer and it feels really good coming back.

OUT OF THE TRICKS THAT YOU CAN CURRENTLY DO, WHAT ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF?
I have a pretty mean switch 9 that I like doing off step downs and stuff like that. So I would say I’m most proud of that.

ANY ADVICE FOR KIDS CHARGING POW THAT ARE LOOKING TO FOLLOW IN YOUR FOOTSTEPS?
Yeah, just keep charging and spending time in the mountains. Get your awareness up with Avy courses, get to know your snow, because that’s one of the biggest thing. If you want to get out filming with a new crew and you come in knowing your mountain stuff, that makes you getting accepted a hell of a lot easier. Go out and ski all day in a bunch of conditions because that’s what makes for good skiers.

Coming Soon

2012:
‘WE: A Collection of Individuals’ — Poor Boyz Productions

2011:
‘That’s Fine’ — Voleurz
‘The Grand Bizarre’ — Poor Boyz Productions

2010:
‘Eye Trip’ — Level 1 Productions
‘Revolver’ — Poor Boyz Productions

2009:
‘Everyday is a Saturday’ — Poor Boyz Productions

2008:
‘Journal’ — Theory Three Media

2007:
‘PNW’ — Theory Three Media

2006:
‘Photoplay’ — Theory Three Media

2005:
‘Safety Meeting’ — Theory Three Media